30 James Muilenburg 



This was only a temporary indisposition, however, for soon he was 

 very active in his negotiations. He held many conferences with 

 the King. 130 And in these meetings, both parties sought that 

 which was uppermost in the mind of each. The great problem 

 centered about the ambition of James II to give the Catholics 

 freedom of worship as well as civil and political privileges. If 

 he were to do it with any measure of security, he knew that the 

 support of the Prince was indispensable. In all these conferences 

 with Dykvelt, James II sounded again and again his appeal for 

 religious toleration. 



Later Interviews with the King 



The conferences which Albeville had with the Prince and 

 Princess are very similar in substance to those of Dykvelt with 

 the King. James II advanced the same arguments as Albeville for 

 the repeal of the Test Act and the Penal Laws, and Dykvelt — ■ 

 this is Burnet's account — pressed the King with the same reasons 

 that his master had employed with Albeville. James urged, 

 moreover, the duty of respect for family relationships. He was 

 the head of the family, and the Prince ought to comply with his 

 wishes. On the contrary, the Prince had always opposed him in 

 every point. Dykvelt could not agree. The Prince had carried 

 his complaisance to the limit. In everything, he had shown a 

 very ready submission to the King's will. But the matter of 

 religion was a different thing. The Prince could scarcely sacrifice 

 that. France had openly violated the articles of peace in the 

 Treaty of Nimwegen, but the King had not intervened in the 

 Prince's interests. Nevertheless, the Prince had kept silent and 

 had made no protestations upon it. It was quite evident that he 

 was willing to sacrifice his own concerns rather than disturb the 

 King, his father-in-law. James made no answer to Dykvelt's 

 speech. 131 But Sunderland and others of the ministry pressed 

 Dykvelt to do all he could to bring the Prince to concur with the 

 King's wishes. If the Prince would yield in the matter of the 





130 Burnet, p. 451. 



131 Ibid, idem. 



114 



